The article examines Dickens’s indictment of those extreme forms of violence, “within the law”, i.e. forms of “legalised violence” which transform force into right, and produce, in their extreme form, what Dickens considers to be the ‘scandal’ of the law, the death penalty or capital punishment. Accordingly, we see in A Tale of Two Cities the degeneration of authority into authoritarianism. Indeed, both Paris and London tell the same ‘tale’, they both resort to ‘Bia’ (violence) in order, so it is paradoxically maintained, to safeguard ‘Dike’ (justice). This, Dickens points out, produces coercion rather than persuasion, which, besides renovating the circle of injustice and violence, puts the legitimacy of the law into question. Dickens not only oppugns patent sites of authority; he also shows how established structures of micro-power and authority continue to function unperceived and unquestioned, fostered by the uncritical, domestic and social, acts of acquiescence and conformism to its unquestioned rules as, for example, Jarvis Lorry's adherence to the gospel of duty demonstrates. Dickens shows to his countrymen that, notwithstanding their belief in the law, in adopting capital punishment they are as ‘violent’ as they contest the French are, putting thus the legitimacy of the Law itself into question. L'articolo pone l'attenzione sullo 'scandalo' della legge che, paradossalmente, per evitare la violenza, usa la stessa violenza finanche nella sua forma estrema: la pena capitale. Dickens pertanto mostra ai suoi connazionali, indignati dagli estremismi della Rivoluzione Francese, che le due forme di violenza hanno in realtà esiti analoghi in quanto entrambe decostruiscono la liceità della legge stessa. In tal modo Dickens, oltre a criticare fortemente (potremmo dire in termini beccariani) l'utilizzo della pena capitale, richiama l'attenzione del suo pubblico sull'effettiva efficacia di un meccanismo penale coercitivo che, basato sulla paura della pena, non cambia però l'interiorità della persona.
'A Tale of Two Cities': Charles Dickens's Political Examination of Law, Legalized Violence, Authority, and Retributive Justice
BEZRUCKA, Yvonne
2008-01-01
Abstract
The article examines Dickens’s indictment of those extreme forms of violence, “within the law”, i.e. forms of “legalised violence” which transform force into right, and produce, in their extreme form, what Dickens considers to be the ‘scandal’ of the law, the death penalty or capital punishment. Accordingly, we see in A Tale of Two Cities the degeneration of authority into authoritarianism. Indeed, both Paris and London tell the same ‘tale’, they both resort to ‘Bia’ (violence) in order, so it is paradoxically maintained, to safeguard ‘Dike’ (justice). This, Dickens points out, produces coercion rather than persuasion, which, besides renovating the circle of injustice and violence, puts the legitimacy of the law into question. Dickens not only oppugns patent sites of authority; he also shows how established structures of micro-power and authority continue to function unperceived and unquestioned, fostered by the uncritical, domestic and social, acts of acquiescence and conformism to its unquestioned rules as, for example, Jarvis Lorry's adherence to the gospel of duty demonstrates. Dickens shows to his countrymen that, notwithstanding their belief in the law, in adopting capital punishment they are as ‘violent’ as they contest the French are, putting thus the legitimacy of the Law itself into question. L'articolo pone l'attenzione sullo 'scandalo' della legge che, paradossalmente, per evitare la violenza, usa la stessa violenza finanche nella sua forma estrema: la pena capitale. Dickens pertanto mostra ai suoi connazionali, indignati dagli estremismi della Rivoluzione Francese, che le due forme di violenza hanno in realtà esiti analoghi in quanto entrambe decostruiscono la liceità della legge stessa. In tal modo Dickens, oltre a criticare fortemente (potremmo dire in termini beccariani) l'utilizzo della pena capitale, richiama l'attenzione del suo pubblico sull'effettiva efficacia di un meccanismo penale coercitivo che, basato sulla paura della pena, non cambia però l'interiorità della persona.
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